BY THE TIME I got home that evening, I had too much to tell Joe and hoped I could stay awake long enough to tell him. He was in the kitchen, wearing running shorts and a T-shirt, what he wore when he went for a run with Martha. He was holding a wineglass, and from the scrumptious smell of garlic and oregano, it seemed he’d cooked dinner, too.

  But the look on Joe’s face stopped me before I could reach him.

  “Joe, I was at the hospital all night -”

  “Jacobi told me. If I hadn’t found wet footsteps on the bathmat this morning, I wouldn’t have even known you’d been home.”

  “You were sleeping, Joe, and I only had a few minutes. And is this a house rule? That I have to check in?” I said.

  “You call it checking in. I call it being thoughtful. Thinking of me and that I might worry about you.”

  I hadn’t called him. Why hadn’t I called?

  “I’m drinking merlot,” he said.

  Joe and I rarely fought, and I got that sickening gut-feel that told me that I was in the wrong.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “You’re totally right, Joe. I should have let you know where I was.” I walked over to him, put my arms around his waist - but he pulled away from me.

  “No flirting¹, Blondie. I’m steamed.”

  He handed me a glass of wine and I took it, saying, “Joe, I said I’m sorry, and I am!”

  “You know what?” he said. Martha whimpered and trotted² out of the room. “I saw more of you when I lived in DC.”

  “Joe, that’s not true.”

  “So, I’m going to ask you flat out, Lindsay. One question. And I want the truth.”

  I thought, No, please, please don’t ask me if I really want to marry you, please don’t. I’m not ready. I looked into the storm raging in Joe’s deep blue eyes.

  “I want to know about you and Conklin. What’s going on?”

  I was flabbergasted.

  “You think I’m - Joe, you can’t think that!”

  “Look. I spent an hour with the two of you. You’ve got a little something special going on between you, and please don’t tell me you’re partners.

  “I worked with you once, Lindsay,” Joe went on. “We were partners. And now, here we are.”

  I opened my mouth, closed it without speaking. I felt so guilty I couldn’t even act offended. Joe was right about everything. That Rich and I had a special feeling for each other, that I was neglecting Joe, that the time we spent together was more focused on each other when Joe lived a couple of time zones away than it was now.

点击收听单词发音  

1 flirting
v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 )
参考例句：
Don't take her too seriously; she's only flirting with you. 别把她太当真，她只不过是在和你调情罢了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》 'she's always flirting with that new fellow Tseng!" “她还同新来厂里那个姓曾的吊膀子！ 来自子夜部分

2 trotted
小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走
参考例句：
She trotted her pony around the field. 她骑着小马绕场慢跑。 Anne trotted obediently beside her mother. 安妮听话地跟在妈妈身边走。

3 obsession
n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)
参考例句：
I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。 She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。